The Story of Duo Maxwell
by Elbatsnu
Summary: Newcomer Quatre Winner is sent to learn the story behind the club Zero's mysterious permanent fixture, Duo Maxwell. AU. One-shot.(3x4, 1x2)


Disc: Not mine. Blargle.

Pairings: 34, 12

Warnings: Unbeta'd. AU. Yaoi/Shounen-ai. Talking Trowa.

Notes: At the end.

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The Story of Duo Maxwell

...

...

Quatre sighed as he made his way to the bar, or, more specifically, the bartender. He was new to the group, and was therefore expected to do something before he was actually allowed _in_ the group. His something was finding out the life story of the club's seemingly permanent fixture, Duo Maxwell.

Quatre personally didn't care about who Duo Maxwell was, but he needed an apartment at the university he was to attend, and the only one left was within the borders of this particular clan. Thus, he forced himself to care. Apparently Duo Maxwell didn't work in the club, but could be seen there every single night. He drank for free, but he didn't drink alcohol – only flavored water and soda. He also knew every member of the staff by name.

This had piqued the curiosity of the group, and what better way to find out about Duo Maxwell than to make the newbie get all the sordid details from the one in the bar that always knew everything?

Quatre sighed as he sat down on a stool and the bartender shifted over to look at him. While the bar and lounging areas were close to empty, except for Quatre's new "friends" and a few other clusters of students, the dance floor had quite a few young people on it. This club had been created very close to the campus of the college, and wasn't too far from the university Quatre was enrolled in either. It wasn't a normal club, as far as Quatre knew.

First of all, it had a dance floor, a bar, _and_ a lounging area all built within it, fit with plush, comfortable seating. The stereo system was built so that while on the dance floor the music practically pulsed through one's body, the lounging area had it as nice, not-too-loud background music. The bar itself ran along one entire wall, and was normally managed by one bartender, but on busy nights by two or even three.

Also, the club had its own security team scattered around it. They were the men that were dressed nicely, almost formally, and stood around merely looking at people. There were only about three in the club at the moment, but on busy nights that number could double or triple.

The club itself had seemed so refined Quatre wondered how it stayed in business, but it turned out that it wasn't that refined after all. The staff was almost entirely composed of young males, and it was rumored that the owner himself was a young man as well. Very few had actually _seen_ the owner, as he lived above the club in the apartments and rarely came down. He had a floor manager to do that, although one didn't want to run into him on a bad day.

Other than the floor manager, the staff was rather easy going. The DJ played fun, lively music for the students to dance to, as well as dirty tunes for pure entertainment.

The group had explained everything like this to Quatre, or he had read about in some pamphlet they'd gotten their hands on. Except, of course, the enigma that was Duo Maxwell.

Even now Quatre could see Duo Maxwell, holding a drink in his hand and chatting with one of the security men with a grin on his face. From far away Duo Maxwell almost looked like a woman, but he had been assured that Duo was, in fact, male. The meter long braid he wore his hair back in meant nothing in regards to his sex, and was actually another thing the group was curious about. They also wanted to know his age, where he lived, whether he was single, where he came from, how he knew everyone, and why he was _always_ at the club.

Quatre looked up at the bartender with a nervous smile, and silently wondered if this guy knew what he was about to get himself into.

"Did you want something?" the young man asked, barely having to raise his voice to be heard over the music. He leaned forward a bit, and Quatre tried to think.

"I..." Quatre stalled. He wasn't much of an alcoholic. "I'm the DD."

The bartender smirked and nodded. He took out a slim sheet of paper – much like an alcohol menu from restaurants - and placed it on the bar in front of Quatre. On the top of the list read "The DD Menu". Down the list were flavored water, sparkling water, a variety of fruit drinks, and soda. Quatre let out a short laugh.

"Uh, I guess I'll try the "Very Berry Sparkling Water"," Quatre read with a smile. The bartender smiled back, and his green eyes flashed from the strobe lights around the dance floor.

"It sparkles because it has 7-Up in it," the bartender told him with a wry grin. "One of Duo's ideas."

"Duo Maxwell?" Quatre grabbed onto that immediately. Better to get the story quickly instead of wasting this guy's time. The bartender nodded slowly, fixing Quatre's drink and eyeing the blonde.

"Yeah. Duo Maxwell." The bartender quirked his head to the side, and Quatre caught sight of the rest of his face. The bartender had an unusual haircut, with long bangs curling over the front and right side of his face, but cropped short in the back. "What's your name?"

"I'm Quatre. Quatre Winner," he replied, a little aghast at forgetting his manners.

"Trowa Barton," the young man said, reaching a hand over the bar. Quatre shook it.

"Nice to meet you," Quatre told him.

"Now," Trowa said, leaning on the bar and regarding Quatre with interest. "What do you want to know?"

The blonde was surprised at the ease with which Trowa asked that question, and felt a little guilty in replying, "the story behind Duo Maxwell." The brunette nodded knowingly.

"That's probably the question I get asked the most often," he admitted. "The great and gregarious Duo Maxwell. So now I have to ask, why do you want to know?"

Quatre grimaced. "Trust me, I wouldn't waste your time if I didn't need to. I moved here a couple of weeks ago, and living in a hotel is so damn expensive I think I'd be broke by the time classes started up. I needed an apartment, but the only one left was within some group, and to get an apartment I have to be _in_ with the group."

"And of course they want to learn about Duo," Trowa mused. He shrugged. "I can't tell you much, since I don't know him any better the most of the other staff. The only ones who really know him are Heero Yuy, the club owner, Wufei Chang, floor manager, and Russell Horst. He's the security that Duo's talking to." Quatre turned to look, and Trowa sounded amused when he spoke again. "Out of all the staff here, Russell has to be his favorite."

It certainly looked that way, as the two young men were talking loudly and excitedly about something. Duo let out a laugh and Russell beamed at him. "I think Duo adores Russell because he's married. He loves Russ's wife, too."

Russell wasn't a small guy, and was easily three to five inches taller than Duo. His dark hair was short, almost shaved off completely, and he had sunglasses perched on his forehead. He was a bulky guy, and compared to the lithe, shorter figure of Duo, he looked like a giant.

Quatre turned back around and took a sip of his drink. He looked surprised. "Hey, this is really good." Trowa grinned at him, and Quatre found himself flushing. It hadn't escaped Quatre's notice that Trowa was a good-looking guy. "Um, so. Can you tell me anything about Duo Maxwell?"

Trowa nodded. "Sure. I was here before Duo came here. Met him on my third shift, and it was only his second time here." Quatre leaned forward, elbows on the bar, and sipped his drink again. He watched the bartender closely; he was intent on learning everything he had to say.

"I started working here about a year ago, before anyone in this club had ever heard of Duo Maxwell. It was a normal night, I guess. I had only a few people at the bar, and there weren't many people out dancing. I think it must have been a weekday because there really weren't many people anywhere. I was cleaning the bar counter when in walked Duo Maxwell, looking around like he was in complete awe of the place, which I guess he was.

"First thing he did was walk up to Russell, stick out his hand and say, 'Hi, I'm Duo Maxwell.' Russ thought this was cute, and introduced himself. Then this kid, who can't be a day older than twenty, strikes up this big conversation with him about the club, the city, where he was from, what school he was going to... everything. You could tell Russ liked him almost immediately.

"And that's all he did. The kid paid twenty bucks to get into the club, but all he did was talk to Russell. Not that Russell was complaining, of course."

Quatre looked surprised. "All he did was talk to the security guy?" he asked in disbelief. Trowa shrugged.

"Well, yeah. You paid twenty bucks to get in here and all you're doing is talking to the bartender."

Quatre laughed. "Fine, fine. I get it. Keep going."

"One sec," Trowa said, moving along the bar to take the order of a young woman and her two friends. They flirted with him, almost shamelessly so, and Quatre couldn't help but look amused and sip his own drink. Trowa seemed entirely unaffected by their come-ons.

Once he was done serving them, he grinned at them and moved back to Quatre. "So, where was I? Ah, yes. Duo's first visit was almost entirely uneventful, except he left a glowing impression on Russell. And you know what? It was a pretty damn good thing that he did, because the next time Duo came in the club was packed, and not everybody appreciates a guy with hair down to his ass."

Quatre's eyes widened, and Trowa nodded. "Yeah. Some jock from the university decided Duo wasn't worthy of being in the same club as him, and started pushing him around. Now, Duo's a short guy, but he isn't a pushover. He started pushing back, and even got a good shot to the guy's head before the rest of the football team decided to jump in."

The grin crept over Trowa's face again. "So here's Duo, surrounded by these huge jocks, and who comes to his rescue? Russell. They were almost intoxicated enough to ignore him, but they sure as hell weren't drunk enough to ignore Heero Yuy."

"Oh," Quatre let out. "The owner, right?"

Trowa nodded, still grinning. "Yeah. The owner. Heero Yuy is somebody you most definitely do not want to deal with on a bad day. Or be the source of Heero Yuy's bad day. He doesn't allow shit like that in his club, and personally assisted the security team on escorting the jocks out of here." Trowa let out a laugh. "The great thing about it was Heero was even shorter than Duo!"

Quatre found himself laughing as well; at the image Trowa's words were creating in his mind.

"And thus," Trowa said dramatically, tilting his head to the side again, "Heero Yuy met the great and gregarious Duo Maxwell, and his life would never be the same again."

Quatre frowned when Trowa stopped. "There's no way that's all to the story."

"Why not?" Trowa asked, meeting his eyes. "Can't you fill in the blanks?"

Quatre sputtered. "What? No! I'm not going to infer anything!" He leaned forward. "Come on, Trowa, don't leave me hanging with _that_!"

Trowa looked amused. "I thought you didn't care about the story of Duo Maxwell?"

"I didn't, but damnit, you're going to tell me the rest!"

The bartender laughed and moved away to serve a few more patrons. Quatre shook his head and seethed, gulping down more of his drink. If it had been alcoholic he could have used that as an excuse for checking out Trowa as he moved along the bar, but since it wasn't, Quatre 'fessed up to himself: he was starting to like this Trowa Barton. By the time Trowa returned, which couldn't have been four minutes later, Quatre's drink was empty.

"Want another?" Trowa asked, and the blonde nodded, holding out the glass. Trowa took it and replaced it with a new one, making up another "Very Berry Sparkling Water". "You should try the other ones, too. They're good."

Quatre eyed him suspiciously. "You said earlier that they were all due to Duo. How about expanding your story to fit that in?"

"Well aren't we curious," Trowa joked, standing and crossing his arms. "All right, I'll tell you. But I can't jump ahead without filling in a bit more back story."

Quatre made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Fill away."

"Well, after that first meeting of Heero and Duo, which pretty much consisted of Duo protesting to having been saved, Duo was here every single night. I didn't realize it at the time, but I guess he was hoping to get another glance at the 'mysterious'," Trowa stressed, making the quotation marks as well, "owner of Zero." That was the bar's name, for whatever reason. Quatre hadn't given it much thought, other than it was easy to remember and to tell people about. "Regardless, he was here, and he started making friends with the other staff, too. He never came near the bar, though, and I wasn't really sure why. By the time he _did_ approach the bar, he was on a first name basis with every security in the building as well as the DJ. Hell, both DJs.

"Anyway," Trowa said, waving a hand as if brushing the thought away. "He finally came up to the bar and introduced himself, even though by then everyone knew who Duo Maxwell was. He's an interesting guy. The first thing he asked me, after my name, was if we had anything he could drink besides water that didn't have alcohol in it.

"I think he was annoyed by my response. He asked for a water, then launched into a tirade about how a good bar should have an entirely separate menu just for the Designated Driver." Trowa grinned. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there are cameras situated around the club. Heero Yuy can see everything that's going on, and the staff has microphones he can tune into as well. So, he could be listening to me right now. As it was, he was listening when Duo was talking about a DD menu. He actually thought it was a good idea.

"So, Duo got what I guess he wanted. A few minutes later, while we were talking, Heero showed up beside him and asked him if he had any ideas. Duo looked shocked, and then shot me this dirty look like I'd sold him out. I think I laughed in his face." Quatre snorted at that, sipping his drink.

"Wow, I bet you two are best friends," he said dryly. Trowa shrugged, pulling out a towel and cleaning some of the nearby glasses.

"Anyway, Heero repeated his question and Duo started shooting out answers. Just a few, maybe three. Then Heero looks at me and asks if I thought those would sell. Before I could even think about answering, Duo says 'Of course they'd sell! I'd buy them!'" Trowa shook his head. "Heero looked at him like he was crazy. 'I know _you'd_ buy them. You're the one asking for them!' he says. Duo got kind of mad, sinking in his seat and glaring in the other direction. Heero just rolled his eyes and looked at me.

"I told him they probably would. And that if he had a variety he might even get less fights going on, and encourage more non-drinkers to come to the club." Trowa smirked. "And that was it. Heero introduced a new menu, but Wufei was the one who implemented it. He got the stock, the supplies, and taught the staff what to do with them. Everything Duo had said was on there by the time he came in the next day."

Quatre looked surprised. "The next _day_? That's fast."

"Yeah, Heero works quick," Trowa said with a grin, eyes moving over to another patron. "One sec."

While Trowa moved to serve another couple of people, Quatre considered what he'd learned about Duo Maxwell so far. It was, admittedly, not much. Apparently one day Duo had walked in, and then he'd just never stopped coming. Quatre had a feeling Heero Yuy had a bigger role to play other than mysterious manager that propped up sometimes, but wasn't going to dig. Trowa would probably tell him anyway.

"All right," Trowa said, glancing back at the bar as he walked back to Quatre. "Now. After that, you must know that Duo was here _constantly_. I guess school hadn't started up yet, and he had a lot of free time, because he spent it here. I don't think he had a job."

"But how did he afford to get in here so often?" Quatre asked with a frown. Trowa shrugged.

"I don't know. I think he has a sizeable bank account or something. I never asked, and don't plan to, in case it's a touchy subject. Besides, it didn't take long for Duo to become such a fixture that sometimes the guards let him in without paying. And nobody really cared. Not even Heero Yuy, who didn't really come down much after the drink thing. It's funny but that was the most I'd ever really seen of Heero Yuy, and except for when I was hired, the first time he'd actually talked to me.

"Anyway," Trowa said, reigning in his thoughts. He seemed to do that a lot, as though he wasn't used to telling long stories. "That was a long time ago. Almost the entire staff thought Duo might as well work here, but when asked, he replied he didn't want to work here because he liked hanging out with the staff too much to be of any use." Trowa grinned. "And that was true. He'd always be talking to Russell or Louis, the other security that's full-time. If either were away, or busy, he'd talk to me or even Wufei, if he could catch him. The floor manager didn't really do much floor work, back then.

"So, in his then-not-obvious attempts at trying to track down Heero, he started asking about where the manager lived. When he asked me, I told him he lived in the apartments upstairs. Then he got this weird look on his face and asked, 'So there's apartments up there?' I said, 'Yeah, I live up there.' Duo got this weird look on his face. 'So you can rent apartments up there? Are they all full?' he asked me. I told him yeah, he probably could rent one of the six apartments. Only about three or four were actually being used.

"That's actually how I got my idea of Duo having money. After I mentioned that, Duo said he'd been looking for an apartment. He'd apparently been living in this city for a few months, in a hotel. You said yourself that hotels are insanely pricey, but Duo just seemed bored of living in one." Trowa allowed a small smirk to cross his face. "I'm sure he was about to ask how he'd get in touch with Heero to rent one of those apartments, but some moron chose that exact moment to start a fight. With Russell."

Quatre felt his eyes widen and jaw drop slightly. "Oh no."

"Oh yeah," Trowa replied. He looked along the bar and moved to serve a few women and their apparent dates, who looked more interested in the women's cleavage than what they were ordering. Quatre watched them, amused, and thought about what Trowa had been telling him. Apparently Duo was very fond of Russell the security guard, and somebody had attacked him?

Quatre found himself snorting. What a moron. He took another drink before Trowa returned.

"So," he launched into the story once more. "We were talking and all of a sudden this shout rang out. Duo's head shot up, latched onto the group around Russell, and he was gone. One second he was chatting it up, the next he was attacking a bunch of punks who were stupid enough to attack a staff member, let alone a member of security." Trowa laughed. "And _that's_ how I learned about what a lethal fighter Duo was. I mean, the second I realized what was going on, I'd started shouting to the other guys. Well, Duo and Russell were fighting off the idiots, and maybe a minute later Heero was down here hollering at the group and knocking out any idiot that tried to take him out."

Trowa shook his head in disbelief. "I still can't believe how that guy fights. He hit them once and they were gone. One punch, laid out. He took down two guys just by coming downstairs, Duo had taken down two and was hollering at the third _while_ beating the shit out of him, and Russell and the other security were taking care of the rest." Trowa smirked. "Well, it didn't take long for everyone else in the club to catch on. The music was stopped, and people just... Stopped. They stopped talking, dancing, and even drinking. The club was dead silent.

"Then Heero looks around and hauls one of the unconscious jocks to his feet. 'If anyone even thinks of fighting in my club,' he said, 'they will be taken out and removed from the premises. And they will _not_ come back!' Then he chucked the guy back on the floor and said, 'Get this mess out of here.' That was it. He looked at Duo for a minute before turning and talking to Russell, looked at Duo again, then began to leave."

Trowa looked Quatre in the eye again with a wry grin. "Well, if you knew him, you'd know Duo isn't one to miss an opportunity."

Quatre quirked an eyebrow at the bartender, not quite following. Trowa's grin widened. "He asked if he could rent an apartment upstairs."

"Just like that?" Quatre demanded. "He just... walked up to this guy who just laid out a bunch of guys like nothing and asked him for an apartment?"

Trowa looked like he was suppressing laughter. "Yeah. Basically." He gave up the pretense of working and leaned forward on his elbows. "And you know what Heero says? 'Follow me'. That's it. I guess Heero figured Duo was a pretty damn okay guy, sticking up for security when he had no real reason to. So, about a week or so later, Duo moved in. And that's when things started to get a little more fun around here."

"He lives upstairs," Quatre repeated, rubbing an itch on his nose. "So that's why he's always here? All he has to do is come downstairs."

Trowa nodded. "Yeah."

"So, Trowa," Quatre started, but was interrupted.

"Quatre! Let's go!" one of the group he'd brought to the bar hollered. "We're leaving!"

Quatre grimaced at the slur in his words. "Oh, _great_. They get to be in my car." He fished into his pocket for his wallet, and began pulling out money for the drinks. Trowa's laugh made him pause.

"Don't worry about it, Quatre," the bartender told him. "We have a policy where DDs are concerned: if they're brave enough to not drive drunk, they deserve a chance at keeping their pocket change." Trowa winked at him. "That one's courtesy of Duo, too. Extra revenue pays for drinks bartenders make but don't get paid for." He shot a look to the people behind Quatre, who were calling to him again. "Better get going. I guess I'll see you again, though, right? You still need to hear the rest of the story."

"You're damn right," Quatre said with conviction. "You can't leave me with only half the story, Trowa. I'll be back for the rest tomorrow!"

Trowa grinned. "I'll look forward to it."

And that was what Quatre thought about, while driving the group back to their apartment building. One girl and her boyfriend were making out in the backseat, while a third was passed out next to them. The fourth and fifth members were seated next to Quatre, flipping through radio stations and bickering.

Quatre ignored them all, and focused on seeing Trowa the next day. It stopped him from driving his car into a wall more than once.

...

...

It seemed like the next night would never come, as Quatre dealt with breakfast, lunch, and any obligatory phone calls he had to make to his family the next day. By the time supper rolled around, Quatre was so bored that going outside didn't even hold appeal. It was just after he'd eaten that his phone rang, and the group was requesting another ride to the club. And, of course, generously providing Quatre with ample time to find out more about Duo Maxwell.

Quatre couldn't find the energy to be grateful.

Until of course they got to the club, where Quatre paid their way in, and he walked in to see Trowa on duty once again. He almost ran to the bar, throwing himself in the barstool and beaming.

Trowa grinned back at him. "Heey, Quatre. And how are you this fine evening?"

Quatre rolled his eyes as a few of the group's members came and got drinks for the rest. They looked at Quatre pointedly, and Quatre did his best to ignore them. He focused instead on Trowa as the tall brunette made up the drinks with ease.

"That'll be ten fifty," he told them, waiting for the money before handing over a tray full of drinks. "Thanks. Have a great night."

When they – the girl and her boyfriend from the backseat, Quatre thought with a shudder – were gone, Quatre sighed and put his head down on the bar. A drink was placed beside his head.

"I'm the DD again," Quatre muttered, loud enough for Trowa to hear. Trowa laughed.

"Yeah. I know." Interested, Quatre sat up and checked out the drink, taking a sip.

"So what kind's this?"

"Sparkling lemonade," Trowa replied with a grin. "Duo's favorite."

"I wonder why he doesn't drink," Quatre mused, running his finger around the rim of his glass. The bartender shrugged.

"Could be because he gets violently ill if he drinks the stuff." Quatre looked up at the information, but Trowa shook his head. "Trust me, not something you want to hear about. Everybody learned a little something about Duo Maxwell that night. Especially Heero."

The blonde looked interested at that. "Heero. What is Duo's relationship with Heero, anyway?"

Trowa shrugged. "Not my place to say, really." Quatre accepted that loss of information, and instead focused on some of the things the group had wanted to know.

"So how old is he?"

"He's... well, why not ask him?"

Quatre's face dropped. "Uh, no. That's okay."

"Hey, Duo," Trowa greeted, nodding to Quatre's right. The blonde made a face before turning and seeing the object of their conversation before him. Duo Maxwell left quite an impression by reputation alone, but when one saw him up close, there was almost no way to forget him.

He had an air about him that screamed for attention, with his wicked grin and long, brown hair. Right now though he simply looked interested. Dark blue eyes scanned Quatre before the blonde remembered his manners and stood, holding out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Quatre," he greeted. Duo met the hand enthusiastically. Quatre dimly noticed that Duo was only a fraction taller than him, and that behind the bar Trowa towered over both of them.

"Duo Maxwell," came the easy reply. Duo's voice was not deep, but more light and cheerful; much like Quatre had been told his own was. When he'd been a teenager Quatre had a feminine voice, but it had tapered out into a more masculine one, although not a deep one. Quatre suspected the same happened with Duo. "So, you're new, right?"

Quatre found himself nodding. "Well, yeah, actually. I'm new to the area."

"Where are you going to school?" Duo asked, reaching out and plunking his glass on the bar. Trowa grabbed it and replaced it with a new one, making another of whatever Duo had been drinking. Considering what Trowa had said, it was probably sparkling lemonade. "Somewhere around here?"

"Yeah, the university. I just transferred," Quatre replied. Duo took a seat at the bar, and Quatre found himself sitting back down. "It's pretty close by."

Duo snorted. "The university. They have shit for rooms. Where are you staying?"

"A hotel, for now," Quatre confessed. "I'm trying to get into one of the groups so I can get an apartment though. The hotel's eating up my funds very fast."

Duo nodded. "Yeah. They're insane." He shrugged. "That's why living here is so awesome, eh, Trowa?"

The bartender looked amused and nodded. "Yeah. It's great." Down the bar someone clamored for attention, and Trowa was off to serve them. Duo watched him go and shook his head.

"Poor guy. I'd hate to have his job, and listen to some of the shit people come up with. People are such assholes when they're drunk." Quatre nodded absently. "The latest rave seems to be hearing about me."

Quatre stilled. Duo looked at him, amused. "Let me guess. That's why you're here."

"I," Quatre started, looking apologetic, but Duo waved it off.

"Don't even worry about it," he told him, sincerely. "I'm not sure what the big mystery is about me, but I get it. The group thing, right?"

"If I didn't need the room so bad," Quatre muttered. "I wouldn't have said yes."

"So get a room somewhere else." Before Quatre could ask where else, Duo followed that statement up with, "like here. Now, ya see, I get a discount in rent, because I have a special living arrangement, but I could put a good word in for you with the owner." He winked at Quatre after saying that, and Quatre couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.

"You'd honestly help me after learning I'm only here to find out your life story?"

Duo shrugged. "Don't see why not. Not your fault people are nosy bastards. Besides, Trowa doesn't know much except for what he sees anyway." Another wink. "And what he sees ain't the half of what makes up me."

Quatre laughed. "So I don't need to drill Trowa for stories of Duo Maxwell anymore?"

"Well, no," Duo said, looking as though he were thinking about it. "But well, I'm sure he wouldn't mind you talking to him in general, you know. I saw you in here last night talking to him. Once you left it was like his light just went out." Duo grinned. "So I think that if you were to ask him out, he'd say yes."

Quatre's eyes widened. "How the hell did you-"

"Call it intuition?" Duo interrupted, laughing. "I mean, you come back looking so happy to see him, a guy infers some things, you know?" The brunette shrugged. "Besides. I have a knack for figuring people out."

Quatre's face took on a knowing look. "Ah. There's one thing, actually, I wanted to ask you. Well, two things."

Duo made a sweeping gesture reminiscent of the one Quatre had used. "Ask away."

"Well, first, I actually wondered how old you were." Duo let out a laugh at that, taking a gulp of his drink and looking at Quatre.

"I hate that question, you know," Duo told him sincerely. His eyes narrowed in amusement. "People always suspect me of being underage. If I tried to order alcohol I'd get carded pretty damn fast... but then people would realize that I'm twenty-one. Not that old, but damn old enough to buy alcohol."

Quatre digested this and nodded. "So, how old is Heero Yuy?"

Duo's eyebrows shot up. "Ah. Heero. Well, he's almost twenty-five."

"And, ah," Quatre stammered a bit, trying to find a way to properly word what he was about to say. "What... is your relationship with Heero Yuy?"

Duo laughed loudly, grinning from ear to ear. "Holy shit. You're quick. How did you catch on?"

"The same way you caught on about me, I guess," Quatre trailed off, before smirking. "Also, the fact that you're here every day, you live upstairs, and just saying the name Heero Yuy makes you grin like a lecher."

The peal of laughter started up again, and soon many people around them were eyeing the brunette with unease. Duo didn't seem to care, though, and Quatre didn't either. "I think I like you, Quatre," Duo told him. "I'll see what I can do about that room."

"Thanks," Quatre replied, and he meant it. When Trowa returned again, Duo slipped away into the crowd, but Quatre knew it wouldn't be the last he saw of him.

...

True enough, four months later, Quatre was in the club once again. This time, though, he was on the dance floor with Duo Maxwell. The DJ seemed to know just what to play for the young man with a braid, and Duo was very enthusiastically dancing – however, Quatre was dancing alone, as Duo was quite firmly attached to his lover. It was a well-known fact that Heero Yuy did not share.

Of course, Quatre didn't _feel_ alone, as the eyes of a certain bartender were almost glued to him as he moved. In fact, said bartender was distracted for minutes at a time, too caught up in watching his lover on the dance floor. When a patron came and sat on Quatre's stool, however, Trowa's gaze was broken.

"What can I get for you?" the brunette asked. The young man before him seemed to grimace slightly.

"Actually, I was," the young man paused and cast a glance at the dance floor. "Wondering if you could tell me the story behind Quatre Winner."

The sudden, abrupt laughter seemed to startle the boy, but the bartender didn't care. He laughed loudly, attracting the attention of said Quatre Winner, and the two grinned at each other.

The great and gregarious Duo Maxwell, along with the charming and captivating Quatre Winner, remained oblivious to exactly what had caused the bartender to laugh so loudly.

After all, it seemed like everybody wanted to know the story.

...

...

...

Ever have one of those ideas that won't go away, and then you do write it out and it comes out nothing like your idea?

You're looking at mine.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this. I might leave it a one-shot, considering my reputation with multi-part fics. (That is, my total abandonment of them.) If I were to do a multi-part, it would be The Story of Duo Maxwell: Duo Maxwell Style. In other words, the Duo Maxwell Story following Duo instead of Quatre, and building up to this fic. The prequel, if you would.

But if I do, it'll be a while before I even start it.

So I hope you enjoyed this one ; I know it was a little weird.


End file.
